BinaryReader

BinaryReader

CF 1.0, disposable

System.IO (mscorlib.dll)

class

This class allows you to read data
from a Stream. When
using a BinaryReader, the data represented by a
Stream is regarded as a binary format, and bits
are merely read from the stream and copied into the appropriate
types. The methods prefixed with Read( ) allow you
to grab data of a specific type from the front of the
Stream and advance the current position. The next
table shows how many bytes each of these methods reads in from a
stream.

Method

Bytes read

Method

Bytes read

Read

variable

ReadInt32

4

ReadBoolean

1

ReadInt64

8

ReadByte

1

ReadSByte

1

ReadBytes

variable

ReadSingle

4

ReadChar

2

ReadString

variable

ReadChars

variable

ReadUInt16

2

ReadDecimal

16

ReadUInt32

4

ReadDouble

8

ReadUInt64

8

ReadString( ) uses the current encoding of the
BinaryReader, which can be set when you call the
constructor. Strings are prefixed with their length.
PeekChar( ) allows you to look at the first
character of a stream (a System.Char, which is two
bytes) without advancing the position of the
Stream. Because a binary reader may hold on to
resources that should be freed when not needed, the
BinaryReader must be closed using Close(
) or by wrapping it in a using block
(which calls the protected Dispose( ) method to do
the cleanup at the end of the using block).